After high school, Thompson was recruited to the
University of Technology, Jamaica by Paul Francis, brother of MVP Track Club head coach Stephen Francis. With MVP coaching, her times started improving steadily. In 2013, she clocked a seasonal best of 11.41 s at the Gibson Relays and placed second behind
Carrie Russell at the Jamaican Intercollegiate Championships. At the
Central American and Caribbean Championships in
Morelia, she won gold in the
4 × 100 metres relay, running the first leg on the Jamaican team as it won in 43.58 s. In 2014, Thompson won her first intercollegiate title, placed fifth in 11.26 s at the national championships, and had a seasonal best of 11.17 s.
2015: Breakthrough and World medals Thompson made her international breakthrough in 2015. She repeated as Jamaican intercollegiate champion in March and broke 11 seconds for the first time at the UTech Classic on 11 April, running a world-leading 10.92 s. She ran 10.97 s at the
Jamaica International Invitational in
Kingston, defeating a field that included
Blessing Okagbare and
Allyson Felix. She was expected to run the 100 metres at the Jamaican National Championships, which doubled as trials for the
2015 World Championships in
Beijing; however, her coach Stephen Francis pulled her from that event and instead had her concentrate on the
200 metres, in which she had set a personal best of 22.37 s in May. The move generated controversy in Jamaica; Francis stated that Thompson was not ready to double and that she had been prepared for the 200 m in which her main weakness, the start, would not play as large a role. She won the national 200 m title in 22.51s, qualifying for the World Championships. At the
London Grand Prix on 25 July, Thompson won a non-scoring
Diamond League 200 m race in 22.10 s, defeating Americans
Tori Bowie and
Candyce McGrone; the time was her new personal best and broke
Merlene Ottey's meeting record from 1991. At the
Beijing World Championships, she won a silver medal in the 200 m, finishing just 0.03 s behind
Dafne Schippers of Netherlands. Thompson's time of 21.66 s was faster than the previous championships record. Fellow Jamaican
Veronica Campbell Brown was third in 21.97 s. She went onto be part of Jamaica's relay team, winning a gold medal.
2016: Double Rio Olympic champion , alongside
Dafne Schippers and
Barbara Pierre Thompson kicked off her season indoors running multiple 60 m races, including finishing second at the
Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix in a new personal best of 7.14 s. At the
World Indoor Championships in
Portland, she would win a bronze medal in the
60 m final finishing with a time of 7.06 s, she had previously improved her personal best to 7.04 s in the semi-finals. On 22 May, Thompson won her first scoring Diamond League event, triumphing over 100 m at the
Rabat Diamond League in 11.02 s, beating a strong field that included
Blessing Okagbare and
Carmelita Jeter. She continued her good form by winning over the same distance at the
Rome Diamond League in 10.87 s, her second-fastest clocking. At the
Jamaican Championships, Thompson ran a new personal best and equal national record of 10.70 s to win over
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and
Christania Williams. Thompson won her heat in the 200 m in 23.34 s, but pulled out of the semi-finals due to injury. She was granted a medical exemption to compete in the 200 m at the
Olympics. alongside
Gina Lückenkemper and
Marie-Josée Ta Lou In the
100 m final of the
2016 Olympic Games in
Rio de Janeiro, Thompson won the gold medal with a time of 10.71 s, ahead of
Tori Bowie (10.83 s), and the
2008 Beijing Olympics and
2012 London Olympics winner, fellow Jamaican,
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.86 s). In the
200 m final, she won her second gold, clocking 21.78 s;
Dafne Schippers placed second in 21.88 s and Tori Bowie third in 22.15 s. She was the first female Jamaican sprinter to win both the 100 m and 200 m at a single Olympic Games. She was also the seventh sprinter to achieve this overall but the first for 28 years. She also ran in the Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay| relay final alongside Williams, Fraser-Pryce, and
Veronica Campbell-Brown, winning silver in 41.36 s. Thompson competed at the
Lausanne Diamond League on 25 August, winning the 100 m in 10.78 s. At the
Diamond League Finals in
Zürich and
Brussels, she won over both 100 m and 200 m in 10.72 s and 21.85 s, respectively.
2017–2019: Continued success On 18 February, Thompson competed in the 60 m at the
Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix, the final meeting of the
2017 IAAF World Indoor Tour. She ran a personal best of 6.98 s, making her the equal seventh-fastest woman of all time and one of eight to break the 7 second barrier over the distance at the time. At the
World Relays in
Nassau, Thompson ran in the 4 × 200 m relay, with the team running a time of 1:29.04 to win gold. She enjoyed a strong start to her outdoor season, winning her first three individual international races, running 22.19 s to win the 200 m at the
Doha Diamond League, whilst also clocking a world lead of 10.78 s to win over 100 m at the
Shanghai Diamond League, and winning at the
Jamaica International Invitational, running 22.09 s for 200 m. In June, Thompson won the
Jamaican title over 100 m, running 10.71 s - just 0.01 s outside her personal best. in 2017 At the
2017 World Championships held in
London, Thompson finished fifth in the 100 m final in a time of 10.98 s. She recovered from her disappointment at the
Diamond League Finals, placing second behind
Shaunae Miller-Uibo in the 200 m in 22.00 s and winning the 100 m in 10.92 s. In 2018, Thompson competed at the
World Indoor Championships in
Birmingham, finishing fourth in the 60 m in 7.08 s. In April, she ran at the
Commonwealth Games on the
Gold Goast, finishing fourth in the 200 m and winning a silver medal in the relay. She retained her 100 m title at the
Jamaican Championships in June, holding off
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to win in 11.01 s. The following year, Thompson was a part of Jamaica’s team at the
World Relays, where she won a bronze medal in the
4 × 200 m relay, running a time of 1:33.21 seconds. On 21 June, she took home her fourth successive 100 m title at the Jamaican Championships, winning in 10.73 s, beating out
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce by three-thousandths of a second. The race was the first time two women had gone sub-10.75 s in one race. She returned two days later to also win the 200 m, clocking 22.00 s. In August, she competed at the
Pan American Games in
Lima, winning gold in the 100 m in 11.18 s. Later that month, she secured victory over 100 m at the
Paris Diamond League, running a time of 10.98 s. At the
2019 World Championships in
Doha, she finished fourth in the
100 m running 10.93 s. Thompson-Herah achieved a time of 22.61 s in winning her
200 m heat, qualifying for the semi-finals, but she was unable to start due to an
Achilles tendon injury.
2020-2021: Triple Tokyo Olympic champion and 10.54 s clocking Thompson recorded the fastest time in the
COVID-19-interrupted 2020 season, running 10.85 s to win at the
Rome Diamond League on 17 September. She followed it up by winning the same event at the
Doha Diamond League on 25 September, in 10.87 s. In 2021, Thompson-Herah enjoyed a strong start to her season, winning the 100 m at the Pure Athletics Sprint meet in
Clermont on 2 May, in 10.78 s. At the Jamaican Championships, in June, she placed third in both the 100 m and 200 m, with times of 10.84 s and 22.02 s, respectively, qualifying for the delayed
2020 Tokyo Olympics in both events. On 6 July, at the
Gyulai István Memorial, she won the 100 m in 10.71 s-a new meeting record and her fastest time since 2017. At the Tokyo Games, Thompson-Herah won the 100 m final, winning a gold medal as Jamaica completed a medal sweep of the podium, with
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and
Shericka Jackson receiving silver and bronze medals, respectively. Running into an 0.6 m/s headwind, she achieved the joint second-fastest time in history of
10.61 seconds, setting both the
Jamaican record and the Olympic record, breaking
Florence Griffith Joyner's mark of 10.62 s set at the
1988 Seoul Olympics. Thompson-Herah ran a top speed of 39.7 km/h, the fastest speed ever achieved by a female sprinter; the previous top speed was from Griffith Joyner who reached 39.1 km/h in 1988. Competing in the 200 m, she first equalled her personal best of 21.66 s in the semi-finals. In the final, she won the gold medal with a new lifetime best of
21.53 seconds, also the then-second-fastest result in history. In addition, she was a part of relay team which
won the competition in the third-fastest time ever and a new national record of 41.02 s to regain a title last won by Jamaica at the
2004 Athens Games. In her first post-Olympic race on 21 August, competing at the
Prefontaine Classic in
Eugene, Thompson-Herah stormed to the 100 m victory with a new personal best of 10.54 seconds, the second-fastest time in women's history and only 0.05 s off the world record. She became the first woman to break the 40 km/h barrier. At the
Athletissima meet, she placed second in the 100 m in 10.64 s, behind Fraser-Pryce who powered to her new lifetime best of 10.60 s, recording, however, the fastest runner-up time in history. She concluded her very successful season with wins at both the
Meeting de Paris and
Diamond League Final in
Zürich with times of 10.72 s and 10.65 s, respectively, to take her third Diamond Trophy, breaking meeting records at both meets. As of the end of the season, Thompson-Herah had many placements in the women's all-time top 10 in her specialist distances. She was the first woman to hold more than three marks in the all-time top 10 over 100 m (four) and more than two marks in the 200 m (three) simultaneously. She was also the first woman to run more than three legal times under 10.70 seconds (four), and the first woman to achieve more than two legal times under 21.70 seconds (three), respectively. For her history-making season, Thompson-Herah received the
World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year award, was named
Sportswoman of the Year by
Laureus, Best Female Athlete of the Year by the International Sports Press Association (529 journalists from 114 countries), Female Athlete of the Year by the
North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association,
Athlete of the Year by
Track & Field News, and Jamaican Person of the Year by the Best of Jamaica among many other accolades.
2022: World Bronze medal and Double Commonwealth champion In her first outdoor international competition of the year on 16 April, Thompson-Herah ran a world lead of 10.89 s to win her heat at the USATF Golden Games, before pulling out of the final. On 28 May, she competed over 100 m at the
Prefontaine Classic, winning in 10.79 s. She kept up her good form with another win at the
Rabat Diamond League, in 10.83 s. At the Jamaican Championships, she placed third in the 100 m clocking 10.89 s and second in the 200 m, running 22.05 s. At the
World Championships in
Eugene, Thompson-Herah finished third in the 100 m with a time of 10.81 s, being part of a Jamaican medal sweep with
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce winning gold and
Shericka Jackson taking silver. In the 200 m, she finished seventh in 22.39 s, despite running 21.97 s in the semi-finals. She recovered from her disappointment to win a silver medal in the relay. In August, she competed at the
Commonwealth Games in
Birmingham. In the 100 m, she held off
Julien Alfred to win in a time of 10.95 s. Thompson-Herah completed a sprint double by also winning over 200 m in a games record of 22.02 s. She won her third medal of the Games by winning bronze in the relay, later upgraded to silver due to
Nigeria's doping disqualification.
2023-present: World Silver medal and injury issues In 2023, Thompson-Herah had an injury-disrupted start to the season, which culminated in her finishing fifth in the 100 m at the Jamaican Championships in 11.06 s, missing out on individual qualification for the
2023 World Athletics Championships in
Budapest. She did compete in the heats of the relay in Budapest, winning a silver medal as Jamaica went onto place second in the final. In the latter half of the season, Thompson-Herah's form improved as she finished third over 100 m at the
Zürich Diamond League on 31 August in 11.00 s. On 4 September, she ran her first sub-11-second clocking of the season, running 10.92 s to take the win at the
Galà dei Castelli meet in
Bellinzona. She won again at the
Brussels Diamond League on 8 September, running 10.84 s over 100 m. At the
Diamond League Final on 16 September, Thompson-Herah finished third over 100 m, in a season's best of 10.79 s. The following year, Thompson-Herah suffered an Achilles injury at the
New York City Grand Prix on 9 June and had to be carried off the track. She announced she would miss the
2024 Summer Olympics as a result. ==Personal life==